After a strong showing in July, when stock indexes rebounded from their 2022 lows of June, U.S. equities abruptly reversed course in August.
Here’s the damage:
| Index | Price change – July 29 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2022 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2021 |
|
S&P 500 SPX, |
-3.5% | -16.4% | 26.9% |
|
Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, |
-3.2% | -12.5% | 18.7% |
|
Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, |
-4.1% | -24.0% | 21.4% |
|
Nasdaq-100 Index NDX, |
-4.7% | -24.4% | 26.6% |
| Source: FactSet | |||
All price changes in this article exclude dividends.
The S&P 500’s
SPX,
market capitalization has declined by $6.76 trillion this year to $33.59 trillion. Market caps for the largest five companies in the benchmark index (Apple Inc.
AAPL,
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
and Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
GOOGL,
) have dropped by a combined $1.95 trillion.
Here’s how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 have performed during August and for 2022 so far. Forward price-to-earnings ratios are also included for three dates, based on rolling forward 12-month earnings-per-share estimates among analysts polled by FactSet:
| Index | Price change – July 29 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2022 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2021 | Forward P/E | Forward P/E – July 29 | Forward P/E – Dec. 31 |
| Energy | 3.2% | 46.1% | 47.7% | 9.2 | 8.7 | 11.0 |
| Utilities | 0.8% | 4.1% | 14.0% | 20.7 | 20.3 | 20.8 |
| Consumer Staples | -1.3% | -5.1% | 15.6% | 20.7 | 20.9 | 21.8 |
| Financials | -1.3% | -15.0% | 32.5% | 11.8 | 12.0 | 14.7 |
| Industrials | -2.2% | -11.7% | 19.4% | 17.3 | 17.7 | 20.6 |
| Materials | -2.5% | -15.9% | 25.0% | 13.7 | 13.8 | 17.0 |
| Consumer Discretionary | -3.7% | -23.4% | 23.7% | 27.2 | 28.3 | 33.0 |
| Communication Services | -4.2% | -31.0% | 20.5% | 15.8 | 16.2 | 20.9 |
| Health Care | -5.3% | -11.2% | 24.2% | 15.7 | 16.5 | 17.2 |
| Information Technology | -5.3% | -21.9% | 33.4% | 21.3 | 22.1 | 28.1 |
| Real Estate | -5.4% | -19.2% | 42.5% | 18.5 | 19.4 | 24.2 |
| S&P 500 | -3.5% | -16.4% | 26.9% | 17.2 | 17.6 | 21.5 |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
The energy sector has been strongest during August, rising 3.2%, even as continuous front-month contract prices for West Texas Intermediate crude
CL00,
oil declined 7% from the end of July to $91.64 on Aug. 30. This sector remains the cheapest on a forward P/E basis.
While oil prices pulled back in August, the U.S. energy industry had a banner second-quarter earnings season. Looking further ahead, those results led to a 12% increase in the S&P 500 energy sector’s consensus earnings-per-share estimate for 2023.
Year-to-date, the communications services sector has been the worst performer. Bear in mind that several of this sector’s worst stocks of 2022 are actually tech-oriented, including Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
the biggest loser among the S&P 500 this year with a 63% decline through Aug. 30. The communications sector also includes Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
(Facebook’s holding company), whose stock has fallen 53% this year, and Match Group Inc.
MTCH,
down 57% for 2022, including a 23% decline in August.
Within the information technology sector, two of this year’s worst performers have been PayPal Holdings Inc.
PYPL,
down 51%, and Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
which is down 47%. Nvidia is the largest semiconductor company in the S&P 500, with a market cap of $386.7 billion. The company’s value has declined by an astounding 348.6 billion this year.
Citigroup analyst Christopher Danley warned on Tuesday that semiconductor stocks could drop another 25% as they enter “the worst downturn in a decade.”
The S&P 500’s worst and best performers
Here are four lists of the S&P 500’s worst and best performers for August and for 2022:
Worst-performing S&P 500 stocks in August
| Company | Ticker | Price change – July 29 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2022 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2021 |
| SolarEdge Technologies Inc. |
SEDG, |
-23.5% | -1.8% | -12.1% |
| Match Group Inc. |
MTCH, |
-23.0% | -57.3% | -12.5% |
| Ball Corp. |
BALL, |
-22.6% | -41.0% | 3.3% |
| DXC Technology Co. |
DXC, |
-22.4% | -23.9% | 25.0% |
| Catalent Inc. |
CTLT, |
-21.1% | -30.3% | 23.0% |
| Charles River Laboratories International Inc. |
CRL, |
-18.0% | -45.5% | 50.8% |
| Fortinet Inc. |
FTNT, |
-17.8% | -31.8% | 142.0% |
| Waters Corp. |
WAT, |
-17.8% | -19.6% | 50.6% |
| Generac Holdings Inc. |
GNRC, |
-17.3% | -36.9% | 54.8% |
| Moderna Inc. |
MRNA, |
-17.2% | -46.5% | 143.1% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Click on the tickers for more about each company. You should also read Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on MarketWatch quote pages.
Best-performing S&P 500 stocks in August
| Company | Ticker | Price change – July 29 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2022 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2021 |
| EPAM Systems Inc. |
EPAM, |
21.6% | -36.5% | 86.5% |
| Constellation Energy Corp. |
CEG, |
20.6% | N/A | N/A |
| Cardinal Health Inc. |
CAH, |
17.3% | 35.6% | -3.9% |
| Nielsen Holdings Plc |
NLSN, |
16.3% | 35.8% | -1.7% |
| AES Corp. |
AES, |
14.5% | 4.7% | 3.4% |
| ConocoPhillips |
COP, |
13.4% | 53.1% | 80.5% |
| Devon Energy Corp. |
DVN, |
13.1% | 61.4% | 178.6% |
| Principal Financial Group Inc. |
PFG, |
12.5% | 4.1% | 45.8% |
| Albemarle Corp. |
ALB, |
11.6% | 16.7% | 58.5% |
| CF Industries Holdings Inc. |
CF, |
11.0% | 49.8% | 82.8% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Constellation Energy Corp.
CEG,
was split off from Elexon Corp.
EXC,
in January.
Worst-performing S&P 500 stocks of 2022
| Company | Ticker | Price change – July 29 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2022 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2021 |
| Netflix Inc. |
NFLX, |
-1.9% | -63.4% | 11.4% |
| Align Technology Inc. |
ALGN, |
-12.2% | -62.5% | 23.0% |
| Match Group Inc. |
MTCH, |
-23.0% | -57.3% | -12.5% |
| Caesars Entertainment Inc. |
CZR, |
-5.4% | -53.8% | 25.9% |
| Meta Platforms Inc. Class A |
META, |
-1.2% | -53.3% | 23.1% |
| Stanley Black & Decker Inc. |
SWK, |
-8.5% | -52.8% | 5.6% |
| Etsy Inc. |
ETSY, |
2.0% | -51.7% | 23.1% |
| Carnival Corp. |
CCL, |
7.8% | -51.4% | -7.1% |
| PayPal Holdings Inc. |
PYPL, |
6.1% | -51.3% | -19.5% |
| Zebra Technologies Corp. Class A |
ZBRA, |
-15.3% | -49.1% | 54.9% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Best-performing S&P 500 stocks of 2022
| Company | Ticker | Price change – July 29 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2022 through Aug. 30 | Price change – 2021 |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. |
OXY, |
9.5% | 148.4% | 67.5% |
| Hess Corp. |
HES, |
8.6% | 65.0% | 40.2% |
| Devon Energy Corp. |
DVN, |
13.1% | 61.4% | 178.6% |
| Coterra Energy Inc. |
CTRA, |
-0.6% | 60.0% | 16.7% |
| Marathon Petroleum Corp. |
MPC, |
10.7% | 58.6% | 54.7% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. |
XOM, |
-0.6% | 57.4% | 48.4% |
| Valero Energy Corp. |
VLO, |
6.6% | 57.1% | 32.8% |
| Enphase Energy Inc. |
ENPH, |
0.6% | 56.2% | 4.3% |
| Marathon Oil Corp. |
MRO, |
3.1% | 55.8% | 146.2% |
| ConocoPhillips |
COP, |
13.4% | 53.1% | 80.5% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Under the leadership of CEO Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
BRK.B,
has loaded up on shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp. this year. Here’s a look at the investment moves Berkshire made during the second quarter.
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